The government’s financial and economic policy is wrong – a change of strategy is needed

Batkivshchyna faction leader Yulia Tymoshenko has called the current leadership under the president, Government and National Bank unprofessional and such that has resulted in the economy and quality of life falling; thus, a fundamentally new strategy is needed to bring the country out of the artificial crisis.

“Today there is a trinity of the president, NBU and Government. These three units generate policy that is not compatible with people’s lives,” Yulia Tymoshenko said on channel NewsOne.

According to the politician, in the last four years, the state and state-guaranteed debt increased 14.5 times in the national currency.

“This means that if we do not get on the right path to balancing our state finances, many generations after us will be slaves,” she warned.

Yulia Tymoshenko also cited the IMF’s data that Ukraine’s shadow economy accounts for an unacceptable 45% of GDP.

“This is what bypasses the budget, bypasses wages, and through special schemes is channeled outside the country through offshore zones, smuggling, tax evasion,” the parliamentarian said.

The head of the Batkivshchyna faction also explained that the current government is proposing to balance Ukraine’s finances by “selling Ukrainian land, increasing gas tariffs, cutting social payments and raising the retirement age,” all of which are unacceptable.

“The Government, NBU and president want to balance Ukraine’s finances the wrong way,” the politician said.

Yulia Tymoshenko noted that the current state of cooperation with the IMF is evident in the context of the unprofessional, corrupt and destructive activity of the current government.

“Ukraine needs to agree a program with the IMF that will close the shadow economy through deoffshorization and a program to build the economy through proper lending, deregulation, processing of agricultural production and import substitution. The recipe is simple,” she explained.

Yulia Tymoshenko recalled that the Batkivshchyna faction had registered in parliament a draft law on the deoffshorization of the economy, but that the current government does not want to pass it.

The parliamentarian stressed that Ukraine has abundant resources for economic growth, but that “proper, smart and intelligent governance” is needed.

“Today the black mafia reigns, but everything must change and this system of power rebooted. The country should be governed by honest and decent intellectuals and professionals who will work for their country and people,” Yulia Tymoshenko concluded.